Clinical Social Work Processes and Procedures Flashcards
(101 cards)
Access Provision
Actions taken by social agencies to ensure that their services (or a program’s services) are available to the target population. Examples include educating the public about the service, establishing convenient referral procedures, and having ombudsperson services to deal with obstacles to getting the service
Categorical Assistance
State welfare programs for particular groups of people identified in the Social Security Act (e.g., the disabled, needy)
Concurrent Therapy
Treatment format in which a social worker sees different members of a family or client system separately in individual sessions. This intervention model is used most commonly in couples therapy to encourage the clients to reveal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that they might not feel able to disclose in the presence of their spouses
Empathy
The ability to perceive, understand, and experience the emotional state of another person (Barker, 1987). Emphatic responding is used throughout the helping process to develop rapport, maintain a working relationship, and enable social workers to move toward confronting a client’s problematic issues. Fundamental to emphatic responding is reflecting an understanding and acceptance of not only the client’s overtly expressed feelings but also his underlying emotions. Can be conveyed through verbal and nonverbal communication
Formative Evaluation (Direct Practice Evaluation)
Evaluation used to guide ongoing practice decisions. A tool for monitoring an intervention and identifying when one needs to modify a planned intervention
Institutional Social Services
Social services provided by major public service systems that administer benefits such as financial assistance, housing programs, health care, or education
Medicaid
Social security program providing medical and health related services for individuals and families with low incomes through direct payment to suppliers of the program. Low income is only one test for Medicaid eligibility; assets and resources also are tested against established thresholds determined by each state (i.e., means testing). Within federal guidelines, states have discretion in determining which groups their Medicaid programs will cover and the financial criteria for eligibility. States must cover categorically needy individuals, however, which usually includes recipients of SSI and families with dependent children receiving cash assistance, as well as other mandatory low-income groups such as pregnant woman, infants, and children with incomes less than a specified percent of the federal poverty level. States must also cover certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries
Ombudsman
(a) An advocate or spokesperson for the people who are served by an organization to ensure that the organization’s obligations, ethical duties, and rule are being followed, or (b) an individual employed by an organization to investigate potential illegal and/or unethical activities or unintended harmful consequences stemming from the organization’s activities and to facilitate fair negotiations or actions toward satisfactory solutions
Process Recording
A detailed case recording procedure that emphasizes recording objective and subjective information about social worker-client interactions during treatment. It is frequently used to help new social workers and social work students learn practice skills; more experienced workers may use it when they are having unusual problems with a client and want to maintain a detailed record that can be examined by a supervisor, consultant, or peers
Role-Playing
A technique in which a client rehearses behaviors that will be useful in a particular situation so that he can meet a goal or fulfill an expectation. For example, the client practices the behavior in the social worker’s presence and then receives feedback from the worker. When used in this way, as a part of behavioral rehearsal, role-playing is effective for increasing a client’s sense of self-efficacy
Self-Help Groups
Groups intended to improve members’ social functioning through a group experience and discussions with others who have, or had, similar problems or concerns. Examples of self-help groups include those through self-help organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Parents Without Partners. Many self-help groups rely on leaders who are also members of the group but some are led by professionals or by members who have received training on how to conduct and lead meetings
Systematic Eclecticism
An approach to selecting intervention strategies for a client that entails choosing interventions from different practice perspectives, theories, and models based on how well they match a client’s problem and the empirical research showing the interventions to be effective
Veterans’ Benefits
Provided under the Social Security Act. Eligibility for most veterans benefits is based on discharge from active military service under other than dishonorable conditions for a minimum period specified by law. Many of the benefits and services provided to veterans were adopted to help war veterans readjust to civilian life. These benefits include, but are not limited to, disability compensation, benefits for survivors, health care, and educational assistance and training
Advocate
A social worker role that involves working with and on behalf of clients to ensure that they receive the services and benefits to which they are entitled and that the services are delivered in ways that protect their dignity
Categorically Needy
Individuals who are automatically eligible for certain welfare benefits without a means test because they fit certain predetermined criteria
Confrontation (Challenge)
Respectful and gentle efforts to help a client recognize that he is using distortions, deceptions, denials, avoidance, or manipulations that are getting in the way of desired change. The social worker challenges and invites the client to examine a thought or behavior that is self-defeating or harmful to others and to take action to change it. Efforts to confront a client generally emphasize factors that the social worker believes are contributing to the client’s problems and preventing the client from making progress
Empirically Supported Treatments
Specific psychological treatments that have been shown to be efficacious in controlled clinical trials. The research indicates that ESTs, in general, have the following characteristics: (a) Most ESTs include homework as a component; (b) ESTs generally focus on skill building, not insight or catharsis; (c) ESTs are problem-focused; (d) ESTs incorporate continuous assessment of client progress; and (e) ESTs involve brief treatment contact, requiring 20 or fewer sessions
General Assistance (GA)
(A.K.A. General relief, general public assistance) Aid provided by state and local governments to needy individuals or families who do not qualify for major assistance programs and to individuals whose benefits from other assistance programs are insufficient to meet basic needs. General assistance is often the only resource for individuals who cannot qualify for unemployment insurance or whose benefits are inadequate or exhausted. Help may either be in cash or in-kind, including such assistance as groceries and rent. The eligibility requirements and payment levels for general assistance vary from state to state and often within a state. Payments are usually at lower levels and of shorter duration than those provided by federally financed programs. General assistance is administered and financed by state and local governments under their own guidelines
Interdisciplinary Teaming
A form of intervention in which the members of different professions or disciplines (e.g., social work, medical, psychiatric) work together on behalf of a client. For team practice to be effective, team members from different professions must be able to reach an agreement regarding approaches to care and willing to move beyond their own expertise to address the needs of the “whole” client
Medicare
Social security program providing health care benefits (health insurance coverage) to most people over age 64 (i.e., those who are eligible for monthly social security benefits and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years); to some people with disabilities under age 65; and to people of all ages with end-stage renal disease (permanent kidney failure treated with dialysis or a transplant). Part A of Medicare is a compulsory Hospital Insurance (HI) program, and Part B is a voluntary program of Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI). Part A covers inpatient hospital services, care in skilled nursing facilities, home health services, and hospice care
Open-Ended Questions
Interview questions that define a topic area but allow a client to respond in whatever way he chooses. Effective for encouraging a client to self-disclose or expand on personal information and, thus, tend to elicit valuable data
Programming (Small Group Work)
Involves selecting and planning activities (drama, art, dance, music, sports, parties, work tasks, etc.) to create opportunities for clients to learn new behaviors and experience positive interactions with others and to guide the group process in desired directions
Role-Reversal
A technique used to help clients understand the perceptions and feelings of significant others. It involves having one person (e.g., a spouse, a parent) take on the perspective of another person (e.g., the other spouse, the child) in an effort to better understand him. Is particularly useful in couples and family therapy and is indicated whenever one or both parties in a relationship have little or no awareness of how the other one feels
Service Delivery System
Means of delivering health and human services within communities. Informal services-delivery units include household units and social networks; mediating service-delivery units includes self-help groups, grassroots associations, and voluntary associations; and formal service-delivery units include nonprofit and for-profit private agencies and public agencies
